Tag Archives: Positive

Psalm 139

You have searched me, Lord,and you know me.You know when I sit and when I rise;you perceive my thoughts from afar.You discern my going out and my lying down;you are familiar with all my ways.Before a word is on my tongueyou, Lord, know it completely.You hem me in behind and before,and you lay your hand upon me.Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,too lofty for me to attain.

Sometimes life stretches us in all directions. We long to climb into bed and say, “Wake me when it’s all over,” but we can’t because responsibilities must be met.

Take a break from your anxieties. Hopefully not, but chances are they’ll still be there when you get back. No one is going to steal them. Find one thing you can be optimistic about and keep your mind on that when worries threaten to drown you.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

We have a very mild winter so far in the northwest. It seems all our snow and frigid weather has moved east. We have hardly had any snow at all in the month of January and that is quite rare. Some of our days this month have been spring-like, with only a bearable chill.
The leader at the Bible study I went to today was talking about some trees she noticed that were beginning to bud.
“Oh, no!” she said. “Don’t do that.” She got to talking about how this was the time the roots needed to grow deeper into the soil.
I got to thinking about how winter is a time for trees, shrubs, and most plants to recuperate from the hard work of bearing and growing fruit in the summer and fall months. Continue reading →

Did you make any new year’s resolutions? If so, how’s that working for you?

If you are like most people, right about now you’ll start floundering. Mid-January begins to feel like a heavy lunch on a warm day. Sluggish.

We begin to lose fervor for our resolution.

We begin to see our goals as illusions.

Our good intentions grow thinner with each day.

Does that sound like you at all?

New Year resolutions go unresolved because we often don’t take them seriously enough. We then give up. Many times we try too hard to fulfill them on our own, and don’t ask God for help, or family and friends for support.

In Ecclesiastes 3:1, Solomon the wisest man ever, says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:”

This year, the Lord has been writing this in my heart’s wall:

“There is a time to turn bad habits into growth, and this is your time. Be deliberate.” Continue reading →

Don’t let the world dictate your Christmas with its pressure to buy this and that at every turn. Of all the toys and the gifts given this year, most will be forgotten or broken by next Christmas. But, what is really going to matter in fifty or one hundred years? Or a thousand years! Continue reading →

There once was a man named Joe who was filled with a great deal of bitterness.

Whenever Joe thought of Dan, he became enraged. Dan greatly cost Joe when he robbed him in a business partnership.

Whenever Joe thought of his neighbor Lucy, he resented the way she raked most of her fall leaves into his yard, year after year. He had seen her do that himself, yet when he pointed it out she denied it. Heat rose up his shirt collar when she worked in her yard.

He wanted to beat the daylights out of his neighbor Sam, across the street. Sam borrowed a perfectly working snow blower and returned it broken, after he cleared his rocky driveway more than once. Sam then told Joe the blower never worked. Continue reading →

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

The worth of something is based on what someone is willing to pay for it.

Jesus thought you and I were worth the very living blood in His body. He paid a great price for us because of His love for us. Just as most parents would go to any length to pay a great ransom price if their child is kidnapped.

EXCEPT that we willingly walk away from God. BUT—He still is willing to redeem us. Continue reading →